by Luke Voogt
Eight Geelong students set for a US artificial intelligence adventure are hoping the more human intellect of locals can help them take off to America.
The Geelong Lutheran College students are holding a trivia night this month to raise funds to represent Australia in May.
Will Cole is among the team preparing to compete in the FIRST Lego League Carolina Open Invitational in Myrtle Beach.
“I’m pretty excited,” the 13-year-old said.
“It’s my first time going to America and we’ve been good enough to get into a competition against other countries.”
The team won a national competition last November by programming their Lego robot to perform tasks using a combination of precise calculations and trial and error.
“I like solving problems and certain areas of science just interest me, because of what you can do,” Will said.
For example, the team used wheel rotations and circumference to calculate travel distances, fellow team member Connor Wood explained.
“I like how we get to program the robots and we get to learn how things work in the world,” Connor said.
“The most challenging thing is getting the values right.”
The team have also entered the Global Innovation Award with secret designs for a device to open doors for disabled people.
If their concept makes the top 20 they will receive an invitation to Florida and need a patent for their work, according to teacher Jane Hollett.
The trivia night and auction takes place at Geelong Lutheran College’s Gym on February 29. The team will do a presentation during the night.
Tickets are available at ozevent.com.au/event/geelong-lutheran-college/trivia-night-sematics-team-fundraiser.
